“Your plan really did work. You and Daniel have been getting along ever since you introduced him to Dani.”
Storm chuckled. “Let’s just say that Daniel and I understand each other.” He leaned back and smiled. “How about we go back to the cabin? There’s a surprise for you.”
Molly’s brows rose. “A surprise? A good one, I hope?” She gave her husband a playful nudge when he responded with only a smirk. “It’s Christmas Day. One year ago, you and I met, remember?”
“How could I forget? You made quite an impression when you knocked me into the snow and landed right on top of me.”
Molly laughed. She gazed across the pond again to watch the flock of geese as some waddled on the ice, while others took turns swimming in the small, spring-fed opening in the water. Never had she thought she’d find the kind of happiness she’d known over the last year.
“I wonder if Daniel’s family will grow some more next year.”
Last spring, Daniel and his mate had hatched six goslings, all of which had grown to adulthood.
“I’m sure they will. Don’t be too upset if some of the adults will fly away and find their own pond.”
“I won’t be. I understand it’s bound to happen. I know Daniel and Dani won’t leave, though.”
Storm rolled his eyes. “Why would they? They’ve got a good home here. You keep feeding them and letting them in the house. I’m sorry I had to put my foot down when he tried to bring six goslings into the cabin this past spring.”
Molly giggled and wrapped her hands around Storm’s arm. “I know when it’s time to draw the line. I might be the goose-girl, but I’m not completely unreasonable.”
Storm dropped a kiss on her cold lips. “You will always be my goose-girl. Are you ready to head back to the cabin?”
“Yes, and I’m ready to listen to Kunu grumbling that he won’t get roast goose for Christmas again this year, either.”
“He’s happy to settle for venison again,” Storm reassured her. “He has nothing to complain about when it comes to your cooking.”
Hand in hand, they headed for the cabin. Wolf barked and bounced through the snow ahead of them.
“Do I get my surprise now?”
Storm helped her out of her heavy winter coat, then removed his own. He hung them on a peg in the wall by the door before he faced her again.
“Let me see if I remember where I put it.” He headed for the hearth, and reached for an envelope on the mantel. “Here it is.”
Molly’s forehead scrunched when he handed her an envelope. “What’s this?”
“Well, you’d better look at it to find out. Quite honestly, I don’t know what it is, exactly, but take a look at who sent it.”
Molly turned the envelope around and glanced at the name of the sender.
“Danica…Osborne?” she whispered. Her heart inexplicably quickened. “Dani? She’s alive?”
With trembling hands, Molly ripped open the envelope and pulled out the folded piece of paper. Tears filled her eyes as she read it. The friend she’d thought had died over a year ago was alive and well, and had somehow tracked her down. Molly laughed. It was exactly what Danica would do.
“Are you all right?”
Storm came up beside her and put an arm around her shoulder. Molly held her hand to her trembling lips and continued to blink away her tears. She glanced up at the man she loved more than anything.
“She’s married to the man who stole her heart all those years ago.”
Storm smiled. “Sounds like you two might have a lot in common. I sure hope she won’t be upset when you tell her that you named two geese after her.” He winked and laughed.
“She’ll take it as a compliment.” Molly turned to wrap her arms around her husband. “Thank you for this letter.”
“I’m not the one who sent it. Kunu’s the one who delivered it. He said he almost spilled beer on it when he had a drink with Gus yesterday.”
Molly read the letter again, then set it aside. She wrapped her arms around Storm’s neck and gazed up into her husband’s warm eyes.
“I have a Christmas present for you, too,” she whispered.
“Do you? There’s nothing you could give me that I don’t already have. All I need is right here in my arms.”
“Are you sure about that?” Molly smiled. “Daniel’s family isn’t the only one that’s going to increase in number this coming year.”
She held her breath and waited. It took a full minute for the meaning of her words to sink in, or maybe Storm had a good poker face.
“Are you sure?” he croaked.
Molly nodded. “Definitely.”
Storm pulled her into his arms. “Last year, I received you, and this year, you’re giving me a child?” He kissed her long and slow before letting her go. “I may have to track down Chase Hammond to thank him.”
“Why do you have to thank Reverend Hammond?”
“Because without his crazy mail-order bride scheme, I would never have met you, and no matter what happened last year in Noelle, my life would still be lonely.”
Thank you for reading THE GOOSE. I hope you enjoyed this addition to the Twelve Days of Christmas Mail Order Brides as much as I enjoyed writing it.
To be the first to hear about my new book releases, special announcements, behind-the-scenes info and deals, please join my list of readers
Keep reading for a sneak peek from The Swan: The Seventh Day!
If you’re familiar with my books in the Yellowstone Romance Series, the name of Molly’s friend, Danica Jensen, will be familiar to you. You can read her story in YELLOWSTONE DAWN.
And if you’ve read any of my Blemished Brides books, Storm and Ezra’s last name might have sounded familiar. Buck Thornton, Ezra’s brother, whom he mentioned in the prologue, was the old mountain man who saved and raised Levi Colter, the leading man in IN HIS ARMS.
For a complete list of my books, please visit my Amazon Author Page
Join me on Facebook. I love interacting with my readers, and you can stay current on my book projects and happenings.
For even more behind-the scenes news, interaction and discussions with other readers about my books, and just general fun, consider joining my closed Facebook Group.
You can always reach me at
[email protected]
About the Author
Peggy L Henderson is an award-winning, best-selling western historical and time travel romance author of the Yellowstone Romance Series, Second Chances Time Travel Romance Series, Teton Romance Trilogy, and the Blemished Brides and Wilderness Brides Western Historical Romance Series. When she’s not writing about Yellowstone, the Tetons, or the old west, she’s out hiking the trails, spending time with her family and pets, or catching up on much-needed sleep. She is happily married to her high school sweetheart. Along with her husband and two sons, she divides her time between living in Southern California and Yellowstone National Park.
Merry Christmas!
Here’s your sneak peek at what’s coming up on the Seventh Day in THE SWAN…
Prologue
December 1876, Denver, Colorado
The Lord said vengeance belonged to Him, but Avis Smith knew He wasn't thinking of her when He said that. No, the Lord hadn't cared about her in all of her twenty years of life. He never thought about cold, hungry, frightened children who had been used like old dust rags, worn out and cast aside. That's why Avis had no remorse about lying to Mrs. Walters when she signed up for the mail order bride caravan going to Noelle, Colorado.
Lying was a protection, a benefit to block out the life she took on when her mother abandoned her fourteen years ago. She had learned too well from Betsey Smith that telling the truth got you nowhere.
So, she told the kind, green-eyed lady who took her information on the other side of Colorado the following:
She was a widow and had only been married for six months when her husband was killed in a gun battle.
She enjoyed doing hous
ework. That certainly wasn't true. She had been cleaning up after people for the past fourteen years and hated every minute of it.
She could cook. No, she had only always gotten scraps left from people's tables and was certainly never given the opportunity to cook fresh food of her own.
She was religious. Ha! She went her way and the Lord went His. Especially after that vengeance foolishness. He clearly had no use for her and the feeling was mutual.
She was white. Well, she wasn't. But who was to know? People saw what they wanted to see. If the Lord had given her anything, it was this one thing - her pale, translucent complexion. The line regarding race was clearly there on the applications. She had to fill it in some way.
What if she had told the truth? Would she have been able to go? Of course not. But, it didn't matter. She would say anything, do anything to get to Noelle to have her vengeance upon Betsey Smith.
"Everything is in order, Avis. Thank you so much. Your room is upstairs, last one on the left. Get some rest now. We want to get an early start to Noelle. There is much snow in the mountains, and we don't want to be caught in it."
"Yes, ma'am. Thank you."
Avis carried a small threadbare grip up the stairs and followed the woman's directions. The room was more like a cell, but she didn't care. It was hers. She had never had a small room to herself before. The room was a sign. She was headed to a lap of luxury. For once, she would be in sweet clover.
Here, in the privacy of her room, she could take off her bonnet. She didn't dare do it anywhere else, lest someone peer at her midnight black hair too closely and see the crimps that she kept smoothed down. She always kept her movements small, deliberate, close. She couldn't afford not one bead of sweat to pour from her brow. Sweat made her hair kink up, and people would know what she was. She pulled the worn knit mitts from her hands.
Knitting kept her hands busy, and the mitts kept her hands covered in case anyone looked too closely at them. Her secret was carried in the darkness of her cuticles and the deep brown lines of her hands. That's where the Negro blood in her showed up, so she kept her hands covered and busy at all times.
It worked. People thought she was a lady. A religious lady from the eastern US left widowed in a horrific accident who kept her hands busy knitting.
She threw herself back onto the thin mattress at the disbelief of it all. She was on her way to become Mrs. Jones in a strange new town where she would confront her past and then…
Well, that was a bit of a puzzle. She had never thought of what might happen after she got there. Her sights had been set on exacting revenge. Avis had thought of little else over the past fourteen years. Day and night, night and day, picturing it, dreaming it so exactly that she could almost taste the sweetness of the revenge on her tongue. She had never thought of after.
Mrs. Walters deserved better. She had made good on her promise to deliver wives to these men in Noelle to prove that the town could be settled in short order. Who was she to disrupt this good woman's plan?
She stared at the half-moons her fingernails had imprinted on her hands through the knitted mitts. It would all work out later. All she had to do was get to Noelle.
Download THE SWAN
You can also find a full list of the other books in the series on AMAZON
Interact with the authors of the Twelve Days of Christmas Mail Order Brides on FACEBOOK!
The Goose_The Sixth Day Page 11
